Utter Space Photography Studio in Beijing by Cun Design

A hunk of textured stone sits at the base of a cascading canyon of suspended shapes. This is the first image one is confronted with upon entering Cun Design’s Utter Space Photography Studio in Beijing. The veins of the onyx reception desk glow from within, its white hue turning a luminous shade of orange. Tubes of bright white light hang precariously above, each positioned at a unique angle reminiscent of rocks crumbling off the side of a cliff. The entrance is theatrical, enticing guests to enter a world unlike one would expect from conventional studio space. The project brings a bold new voice and aesthetic to the usually restrained interiors of the photographic studio, each space looking like the backdrop for a Sci-Fi movie rather than a typical work area.

The studio sits within the shell of an old 1960’s warehouse in Beijing. The industrial aesthetic that came along with the site formed the main inspiration for the design of the building. Architects treated the original structure with respect, seeking to find the beauty that lay hidden within the chaotically organised existing floor plan.

Cun Design explain they willed themselves to “exercise extreme restraint” when it came to decorative elements, stating, “we let the most primitive architectural scales and material relationships be the performers”. The rough texture and raw quality of prefabricated concrete formwork, therefore, becomes the main decorative feature within the design, alongside a restrained material palette of marble, latex paint, steel plate, and timber veneer. Long gone are the polite white walls of the typical atelier, instead in its place, a futuristic, almost dystopic atmosphere you can’t help but be pulled into.

Walking through the building is logical and rhythmic, each step curated to follow on from the next. Spaces unfold like characters in a movie, each room housing a different personality. It is almost as if Chinese photographer and founder of Cun Design, Liu Zongyuan, designed the rooms like they were images, each perfectly framed and uniquely lit. Lighting becomes a huge part of the performance that brings life to the building’s somewhat cold shell. Whether it washes the whole ceiling blue or provides one single dim light source in the corner of the room, the placement of lighting is integral to the atmosphere created.

Cun Design has created an undeniably intriguing series of space in this Photography Studio. The building sees what architects describe as the collision of “work and an art museum”, creating a studio that goes way beyond the functional needs of photography. The building stands as an exciting and thought-provoking interpretation of creative workspace, bringing a new voice to creative studio design.